Sad day....Funny story.

We had a sad day on Tuesday. We found out that a neighbor, that we didn't know, passed away suddenly. He was only 44 years old. The people had just moved and were renting this house by us. I had never seen them outside. Well, I asked one of the EMT workers if they had worked the case and who the people are. She said that it was really sad. She asked the women if she(EMT) could call some family for her. The poor lady said that all their family lived in TX. The EMT then asked if there was a friend she could call and the lady said they didn't have any friends in the area. Isn't that just the saddest thing you have ever heard? Your spouse up and dies on you and there is no one to call.

Well, this really bothered me. I felt like I should do something for the lady but I didn't want to just walk up to the house. "Hey, I hear you spouse died. I'm your neighbor." It felt intrusive to me. Well, the next day I was walking up to work and the lady was sitting on her porch. I went over and introduced myself. I told her how sorry I was about her loss and that I wish I had met her under better circumstances. I even gave her a hug freely. For those of you who know me well, you know I have some "personal space" issues, so this is a big thing. Her name is Linda and she works at the prison near by. She said that his family had arrived that morning and that it had been a very long night all by herself.

I told the kids about the situation and we all agreed we wanted to do something for her. So after school, we made up a batch of cookies. I know it's not much but it showed that we cared about her.

Now the story takes another bad turn...

We gather up the cookies and head out over to her house. She lives on the opposite corner diagonal from us. As we walk the house, on our side of the street, the chihuahua, from across the street, races toward us. Barking at us like it was a rottweiler. I told the kids "just keep walking". Of course, we said "shoo, get" to the little demon. Now guess what happens next. Yep, the dog runs back across the street, toward his home, and promptly gets hit by a car! Thunk Thunk!! We are stunned and freaked out to say the least. We cross the street and I hand the cookies to Jilly. I have to tell the people that their dog just got hit by a car. Not a fun job. I know it isn't our fault but I sure feel guilty about it.

After I tell the people about the dog, we go on down to deliver the cookies. We say all the standard stuff and offer our help in any way. Linda is obviously sad with red rimmed eyes etc. As we leave Drake comments on how sad she looked and that he really feels bad for her. Jilly says she is sad for the lady but feels really bad about the dog.

Now for the funny part (if you have a sick sense of humor like me). Drake says to me "I've never seen a animal get hit like that. It was terrible." I respond, "To tell the truth, Drake, I've never seen an animal hit either." Jilly says, "Me neither. It was so sad to see that puppy get hit." Drake in typical teen fashion yells "You didn't see him get hit! You can't see that far!" She snaps back "Well, I heard the thunk thunk! It's the same!!" For some reason this is so funny to me! Both of them indignant about what they experienced.

Well, that was our sad day. We did find out later that the dog lived, as of today anyway. I also hope this teaches us (my family) to reach out to those in our community. No one should have to go through a death or anything traumatic alone.